


Epilogue - Halfway to Forever

by 0bviousLeigh



Series: Yuma is a Girl [55]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Genre: Gender or Sex Swap, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-11
Updated: 2018-04-11
Packaged: 2019-04-21 16:16:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14288697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/0bviousLeigh/pseuds/0bviousLeigh
Summary: Yuma has kind of become a god. It was a complete accident, of course.





	Epilogue - Halfway to Forever

Yuma has kind of become a god. It was a complete accident, of course—she had no idea the kind of mark the Numeron code would leave on her, even though she’s now thrown it light years away from earth and stuck it between two black holes where hopefully it will stay for the rest of eternity. Still, Yuma spent a lot of time with that code, building her Kingdom and rebuilding whole dimensions, and that kind of exposure to cosmic power changes a person.

Tetsuo elbows Yuma in the ribs. “You’re doing it again,” she hisses.

Yuma quickly gathers her thoughts and focuses on her algebra notes. The other students in the classroom stop leaning away from her. Tetsuo makes a face at her and Yuma makes one right back. God, she’s so happy he’s not dead anymore.

Yuma has to be careful with her thoughts now. If she’s not careful and starts thinking too broadly, the power that flows under her skin starts seeping out. The people around her don’t recognize what it is, but the feel it subconsciously and they start moving away from it—away from her. It’s normal, that kind of power makes humans uncomfortable, and Yuma does her best to keep it under control, especially after one day when she was daydreaming and suddenly found herself alone in the classroom in the middle of a test. She has to admit, it was kind of funny watching everyone come back into the classroom and being all confused about why they had left in the first place.

There are other marks that the power left on her. She lives her life like she always has, eating and sleeping as normal, but on mornings where she runs late and skips breakfast, she finds that she’s not starving by the time she gets to class, nor has difficulty focusing. On nights where she doesn’t sleep well for one reason or another, she’s not tired during the day. She suspects that she no longer needs to eat and sleep much, if at all, but she’s not too keen on testing that theory.

And she doesn’t have much opportunity to test that theory either, not with her mom and dad fussing over her at every turn. And it’s so amazing to have her mom and dad back. They worry about her and what she’s been through, but they are overwhelmingly proud of her, and Akari. They were shocked when Yuma showed them the bank accounts she made after her various lawsuits, but her father burst out laughing and ruffled her hair.

“That’s my girl,” he said proudly, “I expected nothing less.”

And they love having Astral in the house. When they’re not telling him about their past adventures and helping him navigate life on earth, they’re asking him questions about Astral world. He and grandma do crossword puzzles and she’s teaching him to cook and telling him about what life was like when she was a child. Akari bounces article ideas off of him and he asks her about the things he reads in the news.

And Yuma is beyond happy to have him with her. She and Astral aren’t in all the same classes, in some he’s a grade ahead of her, in some he’s a grade behind. They eat lunch on the roof with their friends, their group considerably larger with Vector, Durbe, and Alit having joined them—Mizael is in his first year of high school—and the afternoons are always boisterous. She and Astral walk to school together every day, they walk home together after, they do their homework together and eat dinner with Yuma’s family. There are two beds in Yuma’s room and two hammocks in the attic, but it’s mostly for show, most nights they sleep in the same bed, and for now the hammock can support their combined weight. They talk every night before they fall asleep, sometimes about school or manga, sometimes about their Kingdom and their future.

Ryoga sometimes calls Yuma during these talks to complain about his new roommates. Alit, Gilag, and Ponta (the duel monster spirit having returned to Gilag’s side) are getting too into the wrestling match, don’t they know it’s fake? Mizael is being a nerd over his pet bearded dragon again, Durbe is lurking, and Vector is singing ‘Dance Magic’ horribly off-key.

“And what’s Rio doing?” She’ll ask.

“Being completely useless and flirting with Kotori again,” he’ll answer.

While Yuma has been out saving the world, her best friends have fallen in love with each other. She’s thrilled for them, and she can’t help teasing Ryoga about it a little.

She and Ryoga go on dates on the weekends. They go to the movies and amusement parks, but they also go to museums and public lectures from scientists and historians. They take note of the past and talk about how to apply what they learn to their Kingdom. Sometimes Astral joins them, and sometimes Yuma looks between these two boys who love her so much, and without whom she would be so lost, and she can’t believe how lucky she is.

Then there’s Kite and Hart. Yuma sees them at least every few days to hear about how school is going. Hart just started grade school and Kite is in college. Hart tells all his friends that Yuma Tsukumo, winner of the WDC, is his godmother.

 

* * *

 

It’s not all happy all the time. They all have demons to deal with.

Some nights Yuma gets calls from Ryoga, because Vector’s night terrors are horrible and he won’t let anyone else near him. Yuma goes to him and lets him call her terrible names. She’ll hold him and wipe his tears, and she’ll remind him that it wasn’t his fault, none of it.

Yuma picked her words on purpose, when she tried to save Vector from Don Thousand—she picked them because she knew his mother would have said something similar to him. She knows she’s become a reminder of his mother. Maybe some would think it’s weird, but Yuma is glad. Vector lost so much because of Don Thousand, and sometimes she regrets making him keep those memories, but she knows she would hate herself more if he was mindlessly happy. She tells him that, and he understands. It doesn’t make it easier when he’s cowering on his bed, screaming that he’s sorry.

Sometimes Alit will suddenly stop breathing and clutch his neck, his eyes wide and his lips turning purple. There’s no medical reason for it, he’s been checked for asthma and all sorts of other problems; it’s the scar on his memory from being beheaded. If Gilag is there he’ll look into Alit’s face and remind him that’s over. If Ryoga is there he’ll take Alit’s hands away from his neck and hold them. Everyone has their own way of helping Alit through those episodes.

Sometimes Yuma’s parents will do or say something in a way that pisses her off so much she storms out of the house. Sometimes she hates it when they try to parent her. Sometimes she’s just so angry at them, because they left and came back and think that things can just go back to normal. They don’t, of course, and Yuma knows that they love her so much and they just want her to be safe. But sometimes, sometimes Yuma just wants them to leave her alone.

Sometimes Astral misses his home, and when that happens he’ll go for a walk by himself, and when he comes home he shows Yuma pictures he took on his phone. Half the pictures are usually of mundane things, like a cigarette on the sidewalk or a too-close picture of a leaf. Yuma loves looking at them, because she loves knowing what catches Astral’s eye.

Sometimes Kotori comes over, and she’s quiet and pale. Yuma will take her by the hand and lead her to the TV, and she’ll put on Labyrinth. Sometimes Kotori will cry, quiet tears that slip down her cheeks. Sometimes she just sits and stares. But by the time the movie is over, she’ll be smiling once more. The past few months have been a lot for her, and Yuma will always be grateful to Kotori for having been by her side through it all.

 

* * *

 

Middle school graduation is approaching. Most of Yuma’s classmates are getting high school acceptance letters, but she hasn’t gotten any—she’s not going to a physical school, instead she’ll be joining a homeschool program. She’ll be able to study at her own pace, and maybe finish high school early and take a qualification exam.

Yuma has a Kingdom to run someday, and she’s not quite sure how she’s going to do that. She wants to finish high school early, and spend some time traveling the world with Astral. She wants to go to South America and see the Mayan ruins, she wants to go to Egypt and see the tombs, she wants to go to dig sites in Africa and help her parent’s colleagues find million-year old hominid bones. She wants to go to China and walk the length of the great wall—all of it. When she’s seen all she can of her own world, she wants to go to college and study political science and history. She wants to learn from the past so she can plan for the future. She certainly has enough money for all of it.

And when she’s done with school, she’ll leave Earth. She figures it’ll be about ten years. She hasn’t told that to anyone besides Astral and Ryoga. She can’t wait until she’s ready to rule her Kingdom, because she’ll never be “ready.” She’s got people who are waiting for her, and she’s going to give herself some time to prepare, but she can’t ask her Kingdom to wait forever. She’ll come back to Earth for visits, and when her friends and family have lived their natural lives, they’ll come to her Kingdom, but once she takes over her Kingdom, it’s going to be a full time job, and she won’t be able to come to Earth every weekend. She’ll miss her friends and family, but she’s looking forward to everything the future has to offer.

Chaos and hope live within her, and love surrounds her. Yuma knows that whatever happens next, she can handle it.

**Author's Note:**

> If you had told me two years ago that in the 2,018th year of our lord and savior the Numeron Dragon, I would rewrite the entire Zexal series, incorporating some of my most beloved headcanons, and I would actually finish it, I would have laughed. I cannot believe I have done this. I cannot believe people actually read it. I thank everyone who read and left kudos, and I would like to thank Aurasoulyami, Dove, Bilbosama, Wonder_wings, Tetsu, rt1369, Animus, rottenshippa18, Flautistcoming2read, janny77739, Reishiin, Aira_Aura, Kiri_Kaitou_Clover, When_Arrows_Collide for commenting.
> 
> I’m so glad I watched Zexal and it’s one of my favorite spinoffs, and let me be clear, I love Yuma just the way he is. He’s a little gullible, a little slow to catch on to things, but he’s overall a happy-go-lucky kid and all that makes sense. The biggest thing I did for my Yuma (besides change her gender), is change the way she reacted to her parent’s disappearing. Since I made her friends with Rio, and Rio’s accident was around that same time, that incident really made my Yuma break down. My Yuma doesn’t have Canon Yuma’s blind faith and optimism, she’s jaded and suspicious. I would like to think that over the course of the series, I’ve shown her regaining some of that faith.
> 
> There is more I could do with this series, and maybe someday I will, but I have been devoting almost all my writing time to this since August of 2017, it’s been nine months!! I’ve given birth to this series and there’s so many other things I would like to write now. Trust me if I do more for this, I’ll share it with you all. In the meantime, thanks so much for reading!


End file.
